1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device, and more particularly to a sheet feeding device which feeds sheets such as recording paper and the like and which is incorporated in a printing apparatus such as a printer.
2. Description of Related Art
Heretofore, a printing apparatus such as a printer incorporates a sheet feeding device which sequentially feeds sheets in synchronization with a printing operation of a print head on the sheets.
This type of sheet feeding device consists of a feed roller for feeding sheets and a pulse motor for driving the feed roller. The device is arranged so that a CPU serving as a drive control means sends a predetermined number of pulses to the pulse motor so that a sheet is fed at a predetermined feed amount.
It is necessary for an appropriate printing on the sheet to correctly feed the sheet. However, even if the pulses corresponding to the predetermined feed amount are transmitted from the CPU to the pulse motor, it is actually difficult to exactly feed the sheet at a desired feed amount due to deflection of the feed roller or the gears which transmit the driving power from the pulse motor to the feed roller.
Therefore the components of the sheet feeding device, e.g., the feed roller and others, have been improved to have high precision so as to ensure that the accuracy of sheet feed is increased. However, there is a limit to the correction of the feed error even if the precision of components is increased, resulting in increased manufacturing costs.